312 CASEY 



tion, and the types of dubitim, and the very much narrower car- 

 bonatum, were combined to form a composite dubhtm, of which 

 the assumed male was slender. Further stud}' shows that all 

 the species hitherto described, except perhaps sculptile, are 

 abundantly valid, and I have so regarded them in the above 

 table. The species, as in Zopherodes, Asida and many other 

 Tenebrionid genera, although very numerous, are more or less 

 local and usually rare individually, so that a considerable pro- 

 portion of those in my cabinet are represented at present by 

 single specimens. If one should proceed upon the assumption 

 that the very obvious differential characters presented by these 

 types are not permanent, no satisfactory classification for the 

 species could be devised, for no limit could be set to fortuitous 

 variation in the various composite groups of individuals, arbi- 

 trarily brought together under a few distinctive names, which is 

 the condition prevailing in nearly all collections at the present 

 time. These remarks apply also to all the other genera of this, 

 as well as to the succeeding tribes here considered. 



Telabis Csy. 

 It seems more consistent to regard this group of species as a 

 genus, and not as a subgenus as originally proposed. The 

 species differ considerably from those of Metoponmm in general 

 facies, and can usually be recognized at a glance, without re- 

 ferring to the biemarginate frontal margin or the structure of 

 the hind tarsi, where the first joint is very much longer than the 

 last. The genus is divisible into two groups, one composed of 

 larger species, which are less numerous and more or less widely 

 isolated among themselves, and the other comprising a host of 

 small species, which are mutually more closely allied in some 

 parts of the series and more difficult to define satisfactorily. In 

 my previous paper the very distinct punctulata^ of LeConte, is 

 said to have a peculiar male sexual character relating to the 

 fourth segment. Dr. Horn states that this character pertains to 

 the female. The single specimen before me possessing this 

 singular modification of the fourth abdominal segment, sheds 

 but unsatisfactory light on this point, as the oedeagus is only 

 slightly protruded, but such characteristics as are visible appear 



